In case you missed it, another UNC football player was reinstated in the hours leading up to the Tar Heels’ game at Virginia on Saturday.

Junior defensive end Linwan Euwell, who sat out the first five games of the season while his case was reviewed by the NCAA as part of the investigation into improper contact with agents and academic misconduct, made his 2010 debut and recorded four tackles in his team’s 44-10 thrashing of the Cavaliers.

Euwell was one of two players cleared this week by UNC.

Houston

Senior running back Ryan Houston, the Tar Heels’ leading rusher last season, did not see action against Virginia and could be redshirted to save his final season of eligibility.

“We’re going to talk with Ryan,” Davis said after the game. ” There was a discussion about the possibility, might he redshirt and come back and play next year? (Because of the) health to this football team, who knows? It’s hard to project.”

The news wasn’t all good on the NCAA investigation front for the Tar Heels.

While Euwell and Houston were being reinstated, junior safety Brian Gupton was ruled out for the rest of the season while futher questions were raised about the availability of senior cornerback Kendric Burney.

Burney

Burney served the sixth and final game of his NCAA suspension for taking “extra benefits” on Saturday and was scheduled to return for next week’s key road game at Miami.

But because of “an unresolved issue relating to the ongoing review,” Burney’s return is still up in the air. Presumably, the unresoved issue is related to the academic misconduct prong of the NCAA investigation since he has already been punished for his involvement in the agent phase.

“We were expecting Kendric’s issue to be resolved prior to the completion of his 6-game suspension,” UNC athletic director Dick Baddour said. “This week we learned that would not be the case.”